Love Canal, New York
Adam Moss/FlickrLove Canal, 2015.
At one time, Love Canal was exactly the community its name makes it sound like. In fact, town namesake William T. Love hoped the spot would become “the most extensive and beautiful [park] in the world”.
But its foundations were faulty: Part of the town, located in Niagara Falls, was built directly over a kilometer-long pit that originally served as the local swimming hole or ice skating rink, depending on the season.
Furthermore, by the 1920s, the city of Niagara Falls had bought Love Canal and turned it into a for-profit chemical dump. At one point, the U.S. Army even used the area to dispose of chemical warfare refuse. Then, in 1947, Hooker Chemical bought the property, and by the 1950s 21,000 pounds of toxic waste filled the area.
Several layers of dirt ultimately covered the waste, and thus provided a platform on top of which playgrounds, homes, and schools would stand. As you might imagine, waste began to seep into residents’ basements, water supplies, and even the air, and it wasn’t long before Love Canal residents became sick.
After a community uproar in the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter deemed Love Canal a federal emergency area.
Harry Scull Jr./Getty ImagesLois Gibbs, a former resident and community leader, speaks at Love Canal on August 1, 2003 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the emergency at the town’s toxic waste landfill.
The area underwent two massive cleanups but still poses a danger today. Indeed, cancer rates within housing developments built near or on the water site remain high: One citizen recently reported that at least 17 people in her immediate neighborhood had been diagnosed.
Next, have a look at four abandoned nuclear testing sites that humans destroyed far worse than Chernobyl. Then, step inside the most polluted city in the world.
